


Hold me close

by Enigma07



Category: Naruto
Genre: Adopted Uzumaki Naruto, Dark Past, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Huddling For Warmth, Protectiveness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:15:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29204211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enigma07/pseuds/Enigma07
Summary: Sometimes all it takes is someone to look at us and see us, see behind the fake mask we put up, see underneath the underneath and our lives might become something more than living hell.I think someone like this was really REALLY needed in Konoha.This story is going to be a fix it of sorts but if will be gradual, I've tried to make it a little believable too.Though Naruto ended on a happy note and Boruto has almost grown up now ( with Sasuke as sensei! Who would have thought?!), I'm still heartbroken over many a things. This is a small, teeny tiny attempt at redrawing somethings in Naruto universe.Hope you guys like it.. it's a first try so please tell me any suggestions or corrections.Lastly, I don't own Naruto. If I did, well, Minato and Kushina would be alive, Naruto would have had sooo many people cuddling him he'd be spoilt rotten...and well my manga wouldn't have sold at all😅
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

Cold seeped through the palm of his hand. Deep into his bones, deep deep into his heart. His heart which was already frozen. Three years ago. When he had last seen his sensei's _just about to become a father, excited, nervous and oh so HAPPY smile_ just to, hours later, see it on a photograph atop his coffin and realised that he'd never get to bask in its warmth ever again.

He could feel the now familiar pain that came along with these thoughts. He could feel the wetness behind his closed eyelids. The tremble in his hands. He could _feel._ He was _alive._ He needed this reminder every now and then. 

He took off his hand from the ice cold memorial stone where his fingers were unconsciously tracing his sensei's name. Minato Namikaze. This was all what was left of his sensei now. A name on a cold grey stone. Or so the shinobi deluded himself into thinking...refusing refusing refusing to think of a familiar pair of blue eyes and yellow hair on a toddler.

A masked ANBU was standing behind him.

"Hokage sama has sent summon for you." 

What now? What for? He'd just returned from an SSS ranked mission...one of the sorts which even seasoned ANBU hesitate to take on. But he seemed to have taken a liking for them. "He's reckless" they say. "Getting too cocky, that brat" they say. But what was he supposed to do when he couldn't get an ounce of sleep unless he wore his mind and body down to the core? And if in doing that, he was saving his comrades from seeing and doing things that would break, nay shatter, them..well that's good right? As for him, well, Kakashi Hatake had nothing left inside him that could further be broken.

Shaking himself from such thoughts, he frowned slightly at the ANBU. Wondering why the Hokage was calling him. He was really drained. But such missions tend to shake you up even if your own village calls you a "friend killer". Hence his visit to the stone. His need to remind himself the words of his dead sensei who looked at him and saw just plain _good._

"I'll be there." he nodded at the masked shinobi, who disappeared with a small flicker of chakra.

Kakashi sighed. His breath would have been visible if not for the mask. A small memory of his fool of a teammate running towards them in Konoha's chilly morning, an hour later than decided, small huffs of visible air coming from his mouth, his mouth that was in a wide grin...came to Kakashi. He blinked. Fisted his hand. Ghosts of past were not helping when he was anxious about what was coming in the next few minutes. 

Putting on his Dog mask, he shunshined right into the Hokage's office and bent low.

"You summoned me, Hokage sama?" 

The gnarled old man in white robes and red hat looked far more regal than anyone had the right to at this hour of a winter night. His eyes were as intelligent as ever. But Kakashi could clearly see the strain, the fatigue too. 

"Yes Inu. Stand up. My apologies for calling you so soon after your last mission, which was performed perfectly, I must say. The village and I are both thankful to your services but myself and your commander are both worried about you." The Sandaime stopped him before he could interrupt. He didn't deserve their worry. He was alright. Really. The Hokage wanted him to revert back to a jounin. A jounin sensei, precisely. To take on a team, teach kids. Ha! That was a joke! Didn't they know he was made to work alone? That everything, everyone near him..everyone he considered HIS ANYTHING tended to die? And if he knew anything about kids..well he'd rather be looking after a three year old than wet behind the ear genins. 

The Hokage continued "...and so we have assigned you a team. And no, don't worry it's not a genin team..." he said reading the slight change in the tension in Kakashi's shoulders as exasperated disapproval "...You are to be assigned an ANBU team of 3 and you are going to be their captain." 

The last Hatake could only blink as his leader laid three files before him. " Tomorrow you will be introduced to your new teammates. Till then do go through their files. They're an interesting bunch. And reat well." 

Hearing the dismissal, Kakashi mechanically lifted the files from the desk and left in a flurry of leaves. A team. An ANBU team. Okay so as Kakashi is so obviously incapable of being anywhere near children, a team of deadly killers is fine. Okay. Sure. He had a team now. People he was responsible for. People that were his responsibility. HIS PEOPLE. Swallowing the lump of fear in his throat, he read the names.

Tenzou 

Uchiha Itachi 

Nakamura Aoi. 


	2. Chapter 2

The apartment's door creaked open. Three folders in hand, Kakashi flickered the light on and sighed heavily as he sat on the couch. This was why he liked entering through windows. He'd grown tired of opening door to an empty, cold home. Preparing for another sleepless night, he opened the first file.

_Tenzou. Previously known as Kinoe._

_Age -16_

_Special ability - Mokutun_

His eyes grew wide as he read the word "Mokutun". Mokutun or wood release was the Shodaime's special strength..never seen in anyone else. Even in the last remaining Senju! Was there some secret Senju still alive? The Shodai's relative probably? Was he living anonymously for some reason? He got his answers as he read further...which definitey chilled him to the bones. 

_History - One of Orochimaru's experiments. Rescued from his base during a raid one year ago._

The Hatake took a deep breath. This person certainly had a great power...but at what cost? He hadn't yet met his teammates and was already unsure of how to deal with them. Gathering his confidence and praying for some little bit of normalcy in life..he opened the next file. 

_Uchiha Itachi_

_Age - 10_

_Special ability - Genjutsu. Very high IQ. The Sharingan with mastery over it_

_History - Academy graduation at 6 years Chunin at 7 years Jounin at 9 years_

He let out a dry laugh. A kid! This was a freaking kid!!! A 10 year old in ANBU?!!! Kakashi was getting a headache now. Anybody else in his place would have been over the moon for getting a prodigy in their team but having been a young genius himself, Kakashi knew that this must be either a very overconfident child who couldn't help belittle others or a broken broken person. He hoped it was the former. And to top it off...wasn't the Uchiha heir a 10 year old kid? Was this the Uchiha heir? Oh great. Now he was not just responsible for a small child..but also the heir of a huge clan. "A clan who hated him fiercely"..Kakashi thought morosely. 

_This was also the child his Kushina-nee used to adore so much...Mikoto-san's son._

_Memories have bad timing of popping up, dont they?_ He thought as he snapped the second file shut. The Sandaime must have a sick sense of humor...putting the most messed up shinobi in one team. Ha!

The last one lay on his table, challenging him to open it. Nakamura Aoi. 

Aoi. 

His first friend Aoi. 

Long forgotten memories of deep deep blue eyes, wind swept black hair and a pearly smile on a cherubic face came to his mind uninvitedly. Unwillingly. As though the years, the efforts put in forgetting them were all for none. Childish laughter filled his ears the way it used to fill his silent home all those years ago..and brought a smile to his lips just like it did all those years ago. The only times he used to smile...after his father...you know. 

People have left him so many times in his short life. Died. Wiped out from existence. There one second...and in the next...just gone. But this was the one who had just plain left. Not died. Just left. 

And that had hurt. That had hurt so bad. 

They were kids back then. Merely 7 or 8 years old. And she had become his only support, his safe place after his father had left him behind in his blood and his disgrace. And then, she was gone too. With no word. No warning, no goodbye. They had trained one warm evening, had shared taijutsu tips and laughs while eating dango and went their seperate ways. The next day he heard that the Nakamura couple had died. Was killed. Nobody knew what happened to Aoi. Nobody was much concerned either. 

He didn't know what to do. Had never felt so alone, so lost since Sakumo Hatake committed seppuku. He asked people, he yelled, he begged the Uchiha police to look for a blue eyed, raven haired girl. But nobody listened. No one. People wanted nothing to do with the traitor's son. The police, he still doesn't know why, were particularly unconcerned. 

Was she dead? She couldn't be dead, could she? Why?!! 

That was the day he gave up on finding friends. Finding comfort. Instead focussed on being a strong shinobi. He graduated that year. Stuck to the rules. Did everything right. Tried not to get attached to anyone. 

Obviously, he failed. If his so very frequent visits to the memorial stone are anything to go by. 

Never did he give up on searching for her. Never. And here she was. Right under his nose. An ANBU dammit! Since when?! How?!! She wasn't in the academy since that fateful day, and neither did he see her in the chunin exams. Then how? 

Kakashi didn't know whether to hound her with these questions when he met her, enquire where the fuck she has been all these years or strangle her for making him think he had lost her forever too, for never contacting him. 

He ignored the small part of him who wanted to curl up and cry, to hold her hand and make her promise not to..oh please not to scare him like that. That he had had enough of his people leaving and he was Oh so happy to see her again and....

He cut that train before it got any further. They were not the same small kids of his past. They'd grown up. He had changed. A lot. He didn't know what to expect when he saw her again. But the person, the ANBU he was to meet tomorrow would definitely not be the smiling blue eyed girl from his childhood. 

Cursing his luck, he checked the clock. There was still time for him to catch a nap. He desperately needed sleep. As he tried to lull his brain to sleep while calming his nerves, Kakashi decidedly ignored the fact that his frozen heart was unfurling its wings for the first time in years. 

To quote the Naras, "Tomorrow was going to be troublesome."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So..in the next chapter..Kakshi's gonna meet his team, and Aoi. Till now, Kakashi just considers Aoi a past friend who disappeared and has mysteriously come back. Stay tuned to find more about Aoi's past and how things develop further! 
> 
> As I said..I'm a first time writer. So any reviews, criticisms, suggestions are most welcome! 
> 
> Thanks for reading, guys❤


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